The following are now available on CreateSpace:
Stimmen: http://www.createspace.com/4097377
(fl, pf, 12 min)
No Free Lunch: http://www.createspace.com/4097416
(fl, va, vc, pf, 6 min)
Both will go live on amazon.com during the next week.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Tat
Having spent a few days on long drives to visit relatives, I've come to the conclusion that any music that begins with a prevalence of glockenspiel is tat.
Lately, we have begun listening only to NPR, and on travels, only classical NPR. Unfortunately, classical music in rural America is mostly big orchestral schmaltz. Today, we turned on the radio to be greeted by Leroy Anderson's Piano Concerto, a "weighty" piece consisting of nearly-show-tunes interspersed with Warsaw Concerto-like lyrical pseudo-angst. That bored us for a good 20 minutes or so. It was followed by the "great" Chicago composer William Force, a man who I had only stumbled across in crossword puzzles. This was a piece that he composed while teaching a class (I think at the New England Conservatory) to which no students turned up. (I wonder why!) While not teaching his class, he perused some Christmas Hymns/Poetry, namely In the Bleak Midwinter by Rossetti. Still bored, he decided to write a piece that incorporated his own setting of the poem. The result was a piece reminiscent of shlocky American concert band music, but for orchestra, that used way too much glockenspiel throughout, but it was very obvious right from the start. GAH!!!!!!!! Thank you Mr Force for extending your boredom to the rest of us.
The highlight of our holiday listening experiences was Frank Ferko's Festival of Carols that he wrote for the Dale Warland singers. (Warland was the special guest of the program.) We know Frank from our Chicago days, but haven't heard anything new of his in a long time. (We've grown out of touch.) His Hildegard pieces are sublime, and this is nearly as good.
Oddly enough, Frank's piece doesn't begin with lots of Glockenspiel. (What might that say about it?)
Lately, we have begun listening only to NPR, and on travels, only classical NPR. Unfortunately, classical music in rural America is mostly big orchestral schmaltz. Today, we turned on the radio to be greeted by Leroy Anderson's Piano Concerto, a "weighty" piece consisting of nearly-show-tunes interspersed with Warsaw Concerto-like lyrical pseudo-angst. That bored us for a good 20 minutes or so. It was followed by the "great" Chicago composer William Force, a man who I had only stumbled across in crossword puzzles. This was a piece that he composed while teaching a class (I think at the New England Conservatory) to which no students turned up. (I wonder why!) While not teaching his class, he perused some Christmas Hymns/Poetry, namely In the Bleak Midwinter by Rossetti. Still bored, he decided to write a piece that incorporated his own setting of the poem. The result was a piece reminiscent of shlocky American concert band music, but for orchestra, that used way too much glockenspiel throughout, but it was very obvious right from the start. GAH!!!!!!!! Thank you Mr Force for extending your boredom to the rest of us.
The highlight of our holiday listening experiences was Frank Ferko's Festival of Carols that he wrote for the Dale Warland singers. (Warland was the special guest of the program.) We know Frank from our Chicago days, but haven't heard anything new of his in a long time. (We've grown out of touch.) His Hildegard pieces are sublime, and this is nearly as good.
Oddly enough, Frank's piece doesn't begin with lots of Glockenspiel. (What might that say about it?)
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Scores in the post
Okay now, scores for Stimmen and No Free Lunch are in the post. There weren't too many corrections.
I don't expect to see them before Christmas, but shortly after. Hopefully, I will approve them by the new year, and they will be available in early January.
If you want parts, just email me or comment here. There won't be any charge if you purchase the score.
Stimmen: fl, pf, 12 minutes ($9.99)
No Free Lunch: fl, va, vc pf, 6 minutes ($14.99)
I don't expect to see them before Christmas, but shortly after. Hopefully, I will approve them by the new year, and they will be available in early January.
If you want parts, just email me or comment here. There won't be any charge if you purchase the score.
Stimmen: fl, pf, 12 minutes ($9.99)
No Free Lunch: fl, va, vc pf, 6 minutes ($14.99)
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Two new scores
Today, I uploaded two more scores onto Createspace: Stimmen (fl, pno) and No Free Lunch (fl, va, vc, pno). They need to go through the final checks still, but they should be available in the next couple of weeks.
Incidentally, I needed to pad No Free Lunch a little, so I included some samples of the opening pages of Symphony No 3, which I should probably finish setting sometime soon. I'm 70 pages into it, and there are about 50 more to go.
Incidentally, I needed to pad No Free Lunch a little, so I included some samples of the opening pages of Symphony No 3, which I should probably finish setting sometime soon. I'm 70 pages into it, and there are about 50 more to go.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Scores on the doorstep
My first batch of scores for From Her Husband's Hand arrived today. They look great. Now it's time to put them in the hands of potential performers.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
More Chaos Theory
I've been fumbling around with Chaos for almost 15 years now. It started as a wind ensemble piece and became a piano concerto. I've more or less decided to go back and finish the wind ensemble version.
Is it closer to being finished than the concerto version? Yes. The concerto is still waiting for an insert after the opening section. The wind ensemble version goes straight into the middle section, so all I really need to do is write the ending ... well, that is, except that I think that the opening section could use a little re-working.
Anyway, my rationale. Performance. I'm more likely to find a performance for a wind ensemble piece than an orchestral concerto. It's that simple. I have too many pieces that I wrote on spec that have never been performed, the biggest offender being my third symphony. The other is my 3 Pieces for Chamber Orchestra. Of course, the first two movements appear in different forms and have received multiple performances. The last, however, Paradisio has never even had a sniff of a performance ... except that it was on the SPNM shortlist way back in the 90's. Nobody ever showed interest, even with the carrot of an SPNM subsidy. It also has the problem of still being in manuscript form, as I wrote it before a viable music notation program was available. Should I typeset it? Probably not. I should be writing new things for living, breathing people who want to play something of mine.
Is it closer to being finished than the concerto version? Yes. The concerto is still waiting for an insert after the opening section. The wind ensemble version goes straight into the middle section, so all I really need to do is write the ending ... well, that is, except that I think that the opening section could use a little re-working.
Anyway, my rationale. Performance. I'm more likely to find a performance for a wind ensemble piece than an orchestral concerto. It's that simple. I have too many pieces that I wrote on spec that have never been performed, the biggest offender being my third symphony. The other is my 3 Pieces for Chamber Orchestra. Of course, the first two movements appear in different forms and have received multiple performances. The last, however, Paradisio has never even had a sniff of a performance ... except that it was on the SPNM shortlist way back in the 90's. Nobody ever showed interest, even with the carrot of an SPNM subsidy. It also has the problem of still being in manuscript form, as I wrote it before a viable music notation program was available. Should I typeset it? Probably not. I should be writing new things for living, breathing people who want to play something of mine.
Monday, December 3, 2012
From Her Husband's Hand available now
From Her Husband's Hand (original version for sax and chamber orchestra) is now available on Createspace, and should go live on Amazon.com with in the next week.
Here's the link: https: www.createspace.com/4031574
Here's the link: https: www.createspace.com/4031574
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Farewell to a thousand things
Well, it's happened again. I've woken up with new pieces before with new pieces of music or poetry in my head, but this one was a little different. It was a performance - that's not really new either, but this was a performance by none other that Ella Fitzgerald, and I feel like I've heard the song before. It's a standard.
Um, no it isn't. I googled the lyrics and there was nothing. I only remember the chorus from the dream, and not all of the lyrics. It sounded like something written in the 30's by Berlin or Kern. I've been teach so many standards in one of my sightsinging classes, I guess the style is in my head or something.
Anyway, there's something about "moonbeams and all the little things you are," and it finishes with the line, "farewell to a thousand things."
Anybody recognize it?
If I can't figure out what it is, should I write it? It's in a dated style, but one that lives on.
Um, no it isn't. I googled the lyrics and there was nothing. I only remember the chorus from the dream, and not all of the lyrics. It sounded like something written in the 30's by Berlin or Kern. I've been teach so many standards in one of my sightsinging classes, I guess the style is in my head or something.
Anyway, there's something about "moonbeams and all the little things you are," and it finishes with the line, "farewell to a thousand things."
Anybody recognize it?
If I can't figure out what it is, should I write it? It's in a dated style, but one that lives on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)